`MORNING NEWS` DOCTOR LOSES PATIENCE WITH CBS

Kenneth R. Clark, Media writerCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Susan Winston, the executive producer brought in to doctor the ailing CBS ''Morning News,'' resigned Tuesday, rejecting an invitation by CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter to head a new production unit that will create an entertainment-oriented show for launch in January.

''I`m leaving because I`m at odds with the decision to remove the broadcast from the news division,'' Winston said. ''There is no clear idea and no clear concept of what people want. It`s a very confused atmosphere.''

Last Friday, Sauter ended weeks of speculation about the fate of the

''Morning News,'' which has long run a poor third against NBC`s ''Today''

and ABC`s ''Good Morning America,'' of which Winston formerly was executive producer, by announcing that the show will be taken out of the control of CBS News and retooled along entertainment lines.

Winston will leave CBS with more than two months of the first phase of her contract to go. She had been given from May to October to develop a new format, subject to network approval, after which she was to take over for 18 months as executive producer.

The plan began to fall apart when CBS balked at providing what she considered an adequate budget and vetoed several of her on-air talent choices. Winston said she took a battering by ''often inaccurate'' CBS news leaks.